I'm a Louisiana theatre artist specializing in actor-created interdisciplinary performance. I have become known for provocative, critically-acclaimed projects that fuse traditional realistic theatre, postmodernist performance, and visual design (scenography, costume arts, audio/visual projection, lighting effects) into fully integrated multi-layered onstage works. My streamlined, explorational creation process includes the engagement of participating artists' ideas, and highly controlled, intensive "workshop" rehearsals that span from three months to a year.
I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from McNeese University, and I have received intensive performance training from the world-renowned groups Dah Teatar of Serbia and Odin Teatret of Denmark, and from Shakespeare & Company of Massachusetts and Vortex Repertory Theatre of Austin, Texas. My pieces have been seen at New Orleans spaces such as Zeitgeist Arts Center (www.zeigeistinc.net), the Pickery Art Space, the State Palace Theatre, and the Dramarama festival at the Contemporary Arts Center, and I have received artist grants from the Louisiana Division of The Arts and the Jazz & Heritage Foundation of New Orleans. My works are fiscally sponsored by the NYC independent artists' service organization Fractured Atlas (www.fracturedatlas.org). I created the New Orleans-based performance group Theatre Louisiane, Inc. (www.theatrelouisiane.com) in 1999, and I am a tenth-generation Louisianian of French Acadian ("Cajun") and Native Cherokee Indian descent. C'est vrai, chèr.
My most recent successes include appearing as a Guest Artist in two multimedia pieces: my stage adaptation of the Lovecraft horror tale "The Music of Erich Zann" at McNeese University Theatre in 2005, and my one-actor project about rejected women, "dis+graced," which toured to the 2006 St-Ambroise Montréal Fringe Festival (www.montrealfringe.ca). I and my collaborating artists from Theatre Louisiane were honored by New Orleans Magazine as "People to Watch" for 2006-07. I appeared in the V-to-the-Tenth workshop piece "Women & War" in 2008.
My current project is a work-in-progress titled "Moon Cove," which had a rough debut at the fifteenth annual Dramarama festival (www.dramarama.org) in April 2008; it will likely evolve further and go on from here as a touring project. "Moon Cove" is a fictional ghost story from the Cajun prairie of Louisiana about my non-fictional Acadiana ancestors, which I've created and will perform using solo theatre performance and multimedia projection. It's the first piece that I've authored myself without appropriating existing literature, so I'm proud to say it's my most personal project yet.
Critical reviews for my theatre work:
Montréal Gazette :: "Remarkable emotional honesty" (2006)
New Orleans Gambit Weekly :: As "the moving spirit of Theatre Louisiane" Woodruff "has given us challenging, thought-provoking plays and performance pieces" (2006) Her presentation holds "the audience spellbound from beginning to end" (2004) "Fascinating" and "Stand-out" work (2001)
New Orleans Times-Picayune :: "Intense" and "Intriguing" theater (2004) "Performance and presentation are first-rate" (2001)
Ambush Magazine :: "Direction and acting" are "inspired" "Effectively and brilliantly conceived" theatre (2005) "Go see (her) shows. You will be impressed and entertained" "Epic theatre in the grand sense of the word.... chic touch, great energy" (2003)
Al Shea, theater critic, Steppin' Out, WYES-TV/PBS :: "3 (OUT OF 4) CLAPS!"... she has "cleverly cast" a "tremendous tale" and uses an "interesting approach and style" (2004)
Lake Charles American Press :: Woodruff's "brave and honest" performance "will be talked about for years to come" (1993)
